This morning we enjoyed some peaceful time at sea, the weather cooperated and we left the protected fjords of southern Chile last night. We had to navigate our way around the Taitao Peninsula and duck back into the inland waterways of Chilean Patagonia. The sun shone brightly all morning and it was a pleasure to walk the decks in search of wildlife. We were rewarded with blows off of the ship. They turned out to be sei whales, the third largest of the baleen whales. We saw several of them as we continued north and then turned east. Midmorning brought us continued great weather and some indoor activities. Dennis Cornejo and David Cothran, our Undersea Specialists, showed us some video from their recent dives and talked about the many creatures that live in the kelp forests of the southern oceans.
During the afternoon we traveled up the Pulluche Canal to a picturesque point and dropped the Zodiacs for some tours of the fjords. The sun was out and it was beautiful as we traveled around the small islands and along the shores looking at the beech forests. There was also some wildlife to see. Chilean porpoises, fuegian sea otters, red legged cormorants, and turkey vultures were around the waterways. Once we returned to the ship it was time to relax a little before recap and dinner, after which there was a chance to see the Southern Cross as the skies had remained clear.
